Goodness!
by Jayne Foyer
Summary: A ten-year-old Winry grows tired of Ed's language.


**Goodness!**

The sun was falling behind the hills. It was halfway down, and light was starting to seep away. This was not good. Three small children were sprinting down the road, panting hard, but not letting up.

"Come on Ed, catch up!" called the boy at front.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" shouted the boy in the back. He grimaced and ran faster.

"Yeah, Ed, we all know you have short legs, but that's no excuse!" jeered the girl running in the middle. Edward narrowed his eyes.

"See, now I'm faster than you, Winry!" he yelled as he passed her up. Her chin began to jut out as she slowed down.

The boy at front stopped running. "Brother," he said, jogging back to the girl. "Why'd you have to do that?"

But Edward was already twenty yards ahead of them. "Come on, you guys, catch up!" he taunted. "You're going to have to run like hell to beat me now!"

"Don't say that word!" screeched Winry, her eyes welling up with tears.

"What word?" called Ed, slowing down. "_Hell?_"

Fat tears rolled down Winry's face. "Edward! Please don't!"

"Why are you making such a big deal?" asked Edward. He was slowly jogging back to them. "It's just a word. Hell, hell, hell, hell, hell. See?"

"If it's just a word," sniffed Winry, wiping her eyes. "Then can't you say something else?"

Edward rolled his eyes. "Like what?"

"Like..." She grinned and shot forward, her legs flying down the road. "Like goodness! You're going to have to run like _goodness_ to catch up with me!"

Ed grinned and exchanged glances with his brother. Then, the two of them sped off after the third member of their group, racing each other, pushing one another to their limits.

"Come on, shorty!" called Winry. "You're losing ground!"

"There's no chance in goodness that I'll lose to you, Winry!" shouted Edward, breathing hard.

"Yeah!" yelled Al. "When goodness freezes over, Winry!"

Ed started laughing. So hard, in fact, that he had to stop running and fall to the ground. Al quicking followed him, and after a few seconds Winry ran back to them, and was shortly on the ground as well, giggling uncontrollable.

When the sun disappeared, an old lady named Pinako came slowly walking over the hill, to find three small children lying on the ground, staring up at the stars.

"What is goodness's name is going on here?" she asked, and was puzzled when the children broke into more chuckles and snorts.

She sighed and shook her head.

_I'm getting too old for this._

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**Munich, 1923**

Edward Elric was flipping through a book. It wasn't just any book - it was a thick volume full of numbers and equations and other such boring mathematical things. He was trying to wrap his head around it - after all, he had always been good at maths - but this was so advanced, even for him.

The door opened and Edward glanced up, to see his father walk into the apartment. "It's raining pretty bad out there," he said, shrugging off his coat. "I'm soaked."

Edward only nodded vaguely. Hohenheim looked at him thoughtfully for a second, then glanced over his shoulder at the book. "Whatcha reading?" He held up the book so his father could read the title. "Ah. You need any help?"

"I don't know," replied Edward, frowning at the book. "It's pretty difficult." He ran his finger over a set of equations. "This one... what the goodness does that mean?"

His father raised an eyebrow. "What was that?"

Edward looked up, realizing what he had just said. "Oh... um. Nothing. I didn't say anything."

Hohenheim looked at his son for a moment, then chuckled and shook his head. "Kids," he muttered, as he lumbered out of the room.

As he resumed trying to understand the complicated formulas listed in the book, Edward Elric put a finger to his lips and smiled.

_Al…Winry…_

_…I miss you like goodness, guys._

* * *

Haha.

I was getting pretty tired of hearing Ed swearing when he was about ten years old. I thought that his language must have bothered _someone_... and since Winry was such a crybaby as a kid anyway (WHAT? SHE WAS!), I thought she would be the one who got upset. Besides, we needed more Ed/Al/Winry cuteness.

Also, I wanted to write a fanfiction in which Hohenheim _pwns_. Which he totally does in this one.

Review! :D


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